Electronic device with improved cooling mechanism

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes a substrate, a processor, and a cooling mechanism. The processor is disposed on the substrate. The cooling mechanism includes a conductive medium, a cooling plate and a protrusion. The conductive medium contacts the processor. The cooling plate contacts the conduction medium. The protrusion protruding from the cooling plate connects the substrate to define and maintain a distance between the substrate and the cooling plate. Thus, the contact between the processor, the conductive medium, and the cooling plate are tightly maintained.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application Serial No. 094114876 entitled “ELECTRONIC DEVICE,” filed on May 9, 2005.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic device, and particularly to an electronic device with an improved cooling mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The continuously improved calculation capability of microprocessors result in more and more power consumption as well as heat generation. However, smaller dimension of electronic devices what people expect nowadays impedes heat dissipation.

In typical electronic devices, the major heat source is the VLSI chip. Therefore, it requires an additional cooling plate connecting to the chip. For some design, a cooling pad or cooling paste is also implemented between the cooling plate and the chip to improve the heat dissipation rate. For space saving concern, the housing of the electronic device is usually implemented as the cooling plate.

It is unavoidable that the sizes of components in the electronic device are generally manufactured with a varied tolerance. The varied tolerance generally means leads that the cooling plate, the cooling pad and the chip cannot contact closely, which reduces the heat dissipation efficiency. FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show two typical situations regarding size tolerance of components. Theoretically, a chip 104 disposed on a substrate 102, a cooling pad 106 and a cooling plate 108 connect together ideally at the designated height H. In FIG. 1A, the insufficiency of total thickness of chip 104, cooling pad 106, and cooling plate 108, e.g., size tolerance and etc., results in a gap D between the cooling pad 106 and the cooling plate 108. The gap D may be resulted from size tolerance of a single component, or all of the components in the electronic device. Thus, the cooling plate 108, the cooling pad 106, and the chip 104 are unable to contact with each other ideally. The gap D decreases the heat dissipation capability and even results in damage to components.

FIG. 1B shows the situation of the over-thickness of components. The over-thickness in total of chip 104, cooling pad 106, and cooling plate 108 results in a shortage of q between the cooling pad 106 and the cooling plate 108. Thus, the cooling plate 108, cooling pad 106, the chip 104, and substrate 102 suffer from additional stress which may damage the chip 104 or even result in distortion to the substrate 102.

Furthermore, heat dissipation problem becomes more serious when there are multiple chips disposed on the substrate 102, as shown in FIG. 1C. In FIG. 1C, the chips 104 are unable to properly dissipate heat because the distortion of the substrate 102.

While the dimension of electronic devices becomes smaller and smaller, the heat dissipation issue due to size tolerance of components and substrate distortion becomes more important. Therefore, an electronic device with improved cooling mechanism is provided in this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses an electronic device. The electronic device comprises a substrate, a processor, and a cooling mechanism. The processor is disposed on the substrate. The cooling mechanism, abutting the processor, includes a conductive medium, a cooling plate, and a protrusion. The conductive medium touches the processor. The cooling plate touches the conductive medium. The protrusion having a predetermined height protrudes from the cooling plate and connects the substrate to define and maintain a distance between the substrate and the cooling plate.

In another embodiment, the electronic device further comprises a fasten means for penetrating the substrate and engaging with the protrusion to fasten the cooling plate to the substrate.

In still another embodiment, the protrusion further comprises a groove for receiving one end of the substrate to define the distance between the substrate and the cooling plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B illustrate the size tolerance of component in a prior art device;

FIG. 1C illustrates the substrate distortion in the prior art device;

FIG. 2 is an electronic device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an electronic device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an electronic device in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is an electronic device in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 2 illustrates an electronic device 200 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, such as optical drive, projector, etc. In this embodiment, the electronic device is a projector, including a substrate 220, a processor 240, and a cooling mechanism 260. It should be noted that the attached drawings are provided for descriptive purpose and are not drawn to actual size or scale. In order to clearly illustrate the features of the present invention, the figures also neglect some typical components in the electronic device 200. Those who are skilled in the art understand the electronic device 200 may include other components, such as power source, lamp, fan, and so on.

The processor 240 is disposed on the substrate 220. In this embodiment, the processor 240 is a Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit (VLSI) chip, and the substrate 220 is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The cooling mechanism 260 includes a conductive medium 262, a cooling plate 264, and a protrusion 266. The cooling plate 264 substantially parallels the substrate 220 and the protrusion 266 is substantially perpendicular to the cooling plate 264. In this embodiment, the cooling mechanism 260 is implemented using a portion of the housing of the electronic device 200. The conductive medium 262 touches the processor 240 and the cooling plate 264 touches the conductive medium 262. The conductive medium 262 may include any typical cooling pad, cooling paste, etc. The cooling plate 264 may include any material with proper thermal conductivity, such as metal.

The protrusion 266 protrudes from the cooling plate 264 and connects the substrate 220 to define and maintain a distance between the substrate 220 and the cooling plate 264. The protrusion 266 has a predetermined height H substantially equal to the distance for defining the distance between the substrate 220 and the cooling plate 264. The protrusion 266 preferably includes a bulge (not shown in FIG. 2), which penetrates and engages with the substrate 220. Therefore, the contact between the protrusion 266 and the substrate 220 provides a support point to maintain the substrate 220 at a predetermined position and contacts between components may also be tightly maintained.

FIG. 3 illustrates an electronic device 300 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the electronic device 300 is an optical drive, including a substrate 320, a processor 340, a cooling mechanism 360 and a fasten device 380. It should be noted that the attached drawings are provided for descriptive purpose and are not drawn to actual size. In order to clearly illustrate the features of the present invention, the figures also neglect some typical components in the electronic device 300. Those who are skilled in the art understand the electronic device 300 may include other components, such as optical pickup head, stepping motor, spindle, tray, and so on.

The processor 340 is disposed on the substrate 320. In this embodiment, the processor 240 is a Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit (VLSI) chip, and the substrate 320 is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The cooling mechanism 360 includes a conductive medium 362, a cooling plate 364, and a protrusion 366. In this embodiment, the cooling mechanism 360 is implemented by a portion of the base of the electronic device 300. The conductive medium 362 touches the processor 340 and the cooling plate 364 touches the conductive medium 362. The conductive medium 362 may include any typical cooling-pad, cooling paste, etc. The cooling plate 364 may include any material with proper thermal conductivity, such as metal.

The protrusion 366 protrudes from the cooling plate 364 and connects the substrate 320 to define and maintain a distance between the substrate 320 and the cooling plate 364. The protrusion 366 has a predetermined height H substantially equal to the distance for defining the distance between the substrate 320 and the cooling plate 364. The protrusion 366 connects with the substrate 320 at a region near to the processor 340, and the fasten device 380 penetrates the substrate 320 and engages with the protrusion 366 to fasten the cooling mechanism 360 to the substrate 320. By means of the fasten device 380 fastening the substrate 320, the distortion of the substrate 320 may be effectively prevented. In accordance with one aspect of this embodiment, the fasten device 380 is a screw.

FIG. 4 illustrates an electronic device 400 in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the electronic device 400 is an optical drive, including a substrate 420, processor 440 and processor 442, a cooling mechanism 460 and a fasten device 480. The electronic device 400 is different from the electronic device 300 by the implementing multiple processors, i.e. processor 440 and 442. Here two processors are illustrated as an exemplary embodiment, and those who skilled in the art understand that more processors may also be implemented in the present invention. Note that descriptions of some aspects similar to the aforementioned embodiments will be omitted here for conciseness.

In this embodiment, the cooling mechanism 460 includes conductive medium 462 and 464, respectively touching the processors 440 and 442, and a cooling plate 466 touching the conductive medium 462 and 464. The protrusion 468 protrudes from the cooling plate 466 and connects the substrate 420 to define and maintain a distance between the substrate 420 and the cooling plate 466. The protrusion 468 has a predetermined height H substantially equal to the distance for defining the distance between the substrate 420 and the cooling plate 466. The protrusion 468 connects with the substrate 420 at about center portion of the substrate 420, and the fasten device 480 penetrates the substrate 420 and engages with the protrusion 468 to fasten the cooling mechanism 460 to the substrate 420. By means of the fasten device 480 fastening the substrate 420, the distortion of the substrate 420 may be effectively prevented. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the fasten device 480 is a screw.

FIG. 5 illustrates an electronic device 500 in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the electronic device 500 is an optical drive, including a substrate 520, processor 540 and processor 542, and a cooling mechanism 560. Here two processors are illustrated as an exemplary embodiment, and those who skilled in the art may understand that more processors may also be implemented in the present invention. Note that descriptions of some aspects similar to the aforementioned embodiments will be omitted here for conciseness.

In this embodiment, the cooling mechanism 560 includes conductive medium 562 and 564, respectively touching the processors 540 and 542, and a cooling plate 566 touching the conductive medium 562 and 564. In this embodiment, the cooling mechanism 500 preferably includes a first protrusion 568 and a second protrusion 570 respectively protruding from two ends of the cooling plate 566. The cooling plate 566 substantially parallels the substrate 520. The first protrusion 568 and the second protrusion 570 are substantially perpendicular to the cooling plate 566. The first protrusion 568 and second protrusion 570 respectively have a first groove 572 and a second groove 574 at the designated height H. The substrate 520 has a first end 522 and a second end 524. The first groove 572 and the second groove 574 respectively receive the first end 522 and the second end 524 of the substrate 520 to define and maintain the distance between the substrate 520 and the cooling plate 566. Thus, the contacts between the components of electronic device 500 are tightly maintained.

It should be understand the above embodiments are illustrated for exemplary purpose, and do not limit the present invention. For example, the present invention does not limit the quantity of the processor, conductive medium, protrusion, or fasten device. Those who are skilled in the art understand that any number of components may also be implemented in the present invention.

The spirit and scope of the present invention can be clearly understood by the above detail descriptions of the preferred embodiments. The embodiments are not intended to construe the scope of the invention. Contrarily, various modifications of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to this description. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as falling within the true scope of the invention. 

1. An electronic device, comprising: a substrate; a processor disposed on the substrate; and a cooling mechanism abutting the processor, the cooling mechanism including: a conductive medium touching the processor; a cooling plate touching the conductive medium; and a protrusion protruding from the cooling plate and connecting the substrate to define and maintain a distance between the substrate and the cooling plate.
 2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion has a predetermined height for defining the distance between the substrate and the cooling plate.
 3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the cooling plate substantially parallels the substrate and the protrusion is substantially perpendicular to the cooling plate.
 4. The electronic device according to claim 2, further comprising a fasten means, which penetrates the substrate and engages with the protrusion to fasten the cooling plate to the substrate.
 5. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the fasten means comprises a screw.
 6. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the protrusion further includes a bulge which penetrates and engages with the substrate.
 7. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the protrusion connects to a geometrical center of the substrate.
 8. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the protrusion connects to the substrate at a position adjacent to the processor.
 9. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion further comprises a groove for receiving one end of the substrate to define the distance between the substrate and the cooling plate.
 10. The electronic device according to claim 9, further comprising an auxiliary protrusion having a groove for receiving the other end of the substrate.
 11. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprise an optical disc drive.
 12. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a projector.
 13. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive medium comprises a cooling pad.
 14. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive medium comprises a cooling paste. 